Safety for Journalists – Training School

The Center for Education and Lifelong Learning of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki welcomes you to the Safety for Journalists – Training School, a 29-hour course via physical presence.

The Director of the Programme is Nikolaos Panagiotou, Associate Professor at School of Journalism & Mass Communications of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Aim

The developments at the European and global level and the need for the mass media to send people to war zones to cover the events, makes their training necessary. Those who work in the media are called upon to both inform the public about what is happening during the war and to protect themselves. The program combines training from people who have covered war zones or crisis situations with the expertise of military professionals. The program is structured around keynote presentations by distinguished experts, roundtable discussions and intensive on-site training. The course will be delivered in a mixed methods teaching style and includes lectures, discussion, field training, a policy workshop and practical training.

Objectives

The program aims to train and prepare those that intent covering events in war zones. In particular, its purpose is to train the participants for the preparation they should do before their departure, to equip them with the necessary knowledge to cope with the difficulties they have to face while they are in the field and finally, to inform them about issues, such as post-traumatic stress, which will need to be managed upon their return. The program will provide participants with theoretical and practical training.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, participants will:

a) Introduction to the environment (awareness),

b) Challenges & developments in the reporting of wars and crises,

c) Law of armed conflicts,

d) Field security,

e) Dealing with fixers,

e) Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT),

f) Data security,

g) Health, first aid and stress management,

h) Basic administrative documents and

i) Treatment of trauma.

Participant selection & Requirements

The program is addressed to professionals in the field of mass media and to students of corresponding departments who are called to cover war situations in news. Selection will be due to scoring. Order of priority will be followed.

Method

The curriculum includes two main parts, theoretical and practical field training. For the development of the training program, in addition to the specialized experience of those involved, research was conducted in order to record both the needs and concerns of young people who would be interested in working as war correspondents, as well as the experiences of war correspondents, so that the result focuses and responds to the real needs of the learners.

Educational Material

The course provides participants with:

1. Materials in electronic format and presentations from the presentations
2. Bibliography:

Hoskins, A., & Loughlin, B. (2018). War and media the emergence of diffused war. Polity.

Allan, S., & Zelizer, B. (2011). Reporting war journalism in wartime. Routledge.

Patrikarakos, D. (2017). War in 140 characters: How social media is reshaping conflict in the twenty-first century. Basic Books.

Course Description

Reporting war and crisis
Reporting war and crisis aims to introduce to the students the main aspects ofwar reporting, ranging from physical difficulties war reporters face in the ground, up to develop understanding of different biases and the impact of their own reporting. Hours: 4

Peace Journalism
Peace Journalism is defined “when editors and reporters make choices – of what to report, and how to report it – that create opportunities for society at large to consider and value non-violent responses to conflict” (Lynch and McGoldrick, 2005). Under this framework, the students will be introduced to peace journalism principles and develop an understanding of the impact of their reporting. Hours: 4

Hybrid war
Contemporary conflicts are characterized by the use of mass media, social media and networks as well as any other mean of communication in pursue of effects in favor of the conflicting parties. Students will learn the basics of hybrid warfare in the field of media communications. Hours: 5

New ways of producing and communicating reports
In nowadays media ecology, reporters have unpresented capabilities of reporting and sharing their content. Time is crucial, as well as impactful reporting. In this part, students will be introduced in new ways of producing and communicating reports in a time effective and impactful ways. Hours: 8

Verification of the news
Disinformation is an issue that we face in our every day life, but when it comes to war and conflicts it consists one of the main means of the parties involved. News come from the field through numerous different means, and although we have unlimited information, it comes in poor quality. The verification of news constitutes a crucial capacity in contemporary war and crisis. Hours: 8

Evaluation/ Certificate

Upon successful completion of the course, participants will be awarded a Certificate of Attendance.

For the successful completion of the program, the participants should:

1. have attended all the teaching units. Absences may not exceed 10% of the scheduled training hours.
2. have paid all the tuition fees by the end of the training.

Participation fees/Discount

Tuition fees cost will be 800€ (includes administrative costs and accommodation (half-board)) 400€ without accommodation.

The payment will be done in one instalment in Bank account.

Application

Candidates submit the application form online.

Each application has to be accompanied by the following document or copies:

1. CV
2. A completed application form